The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has criticised President Bola Tinubu’s 65th Independence Anniversary broadcast, describing it as fine rhetoric that failed to address the real issues confronting Nigerians.
Speaking with journalists in Abuja, ADC National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, said the President’s declaration that “the worst is over” rang hollow in the face of hardship and insecurity across the country.
According to Abdullahi, “The question we should ask is: when the President says the worst is over, what does that really mean? What does success look like? What should we expect now that the President has declared the worst is behind us? Because when the President makes such a claim, he is suggesting that our suffering has been worthwhile.”
He added, “The average Nigerian will ask: if the worst is over, why am I still suffering? If the worst is over, what should I therefore expect? As I said, it was a brilliant political speech, but it promises nothing. It says nothing about what will actually affect the lives of Nigerians.”
The ADC spokesman stressed that while the address may have been well delivered, it offered little comfort to struggling households. “For me, as I said, it was good rhetoric, a brilliant speech that will make headlines in tomorrow’s newspapers. But for the average Nigerian, it means little. And the manner in which this is being done is shameful, because if things continue as they are, only God can help Nigeria,” he stated.
On insecurity, Abdullahi faulted the President’s emphasis on the killing of terrorist leaders as proof of progress. He argued that such claims downplayed the scale of the crisis.
“To reduce the complexity of insecurity in Nigeria to the elimination of a few terrorist leaders suggests that the President does not fully understand the magnitude of the challenges we face,” Abdullahi said. “Just this week, a colleague of ours was murdered in the Federal Capital Territory when 14 armed robbers invaded the premises. How does the killing of a handful of terrorists address that?”
